Archives West Finding Aid

Stanley Hathaway was born on July 19, 1924, in Osceola, Nebraska. He was the fifth of six children born to Robert and Lily Knapp. His mother died when he was two years old. He was adopted by his first cousin, Velma Hathaway, and her husband Earl. In 1928 the Hathaways moved from Nebraska to homestead in Goshen County, Wyoming, near what would become Huntley. He was raised on a farm near Huntley and received his primary education in the one-room country schools at Table Mountain and New Fairview, Wyoming. He attended the University of Wyoming for one year before enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He trained as a radio operator and gunner. He was assigned to the Eighth Air Force’s 401st Bomb Group, flying B-17 bombers from England. He participated in 35 combat missions over France and Germany and received the French Croix de Guerre, U.S. Presidential Unit Citations, and five Air Medals.

After his discharge from the Air Corps, Hathaway continued his undergraduate education at the University of Nebraska. He graduated in 1948, and was accepted into the University of Nebraska law school. He met Roberta “Bobby” Harley at the University, and they married on November 25, 1948. The couple settled in Torrington, Wyoming following Stanley’s graduation from law school in 1950. His wife taught science and chemistry at the Huntley High School and Torrington Junior High while Hathaway established his law practice. Mr. and Mrs. Hathaway had two daughters, Susan and Sandra.

Hathaway was elected Goshen County Attorney in 1954 and served two terms, while continuing private practice with his own law firm of Hathaway, Sigler, and Callahan. Hathaway had a lifelong interest in Republican politics. He was elected Chairman of the Goshen County Republican Party and Secretary of the Republican State Central Committee in 1962. In 1963 he was elected Chairman of the Republican State Central Committee and served for two years on the Republican National Committee. In 1966 he was elected Governor of Wyoming and was re-elected in 1970. He declined to run for a third term.

His tenure as Governor was marked by reorganization of State government and passage of environmental laws – the enactment of air and water quality standards, surface mining regulations, and the creation of the Department of Environmental Quality. His administration is equally notable for enacting Wyoming’s first mineral severance tax in 1969, and a constitutional amendment creating the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund during his last year in office. The Permanent Mineral Trust Fund required the legislature to impose a 1.5% tax on the extraction of minerals, the proceeds of which were deposited in the Trust Fund. The principal of the Trust Fund can never be spent. The income from the Trust goes into the State’s general fund to pay for State operations. While Governor, Hathaway served as Chairman of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission, Chairman of the Western Governor’s Conference, the National Governor’s Conference Committee on Natural Resources and Environmental Management, and the Federation of Rocky Mountain States.

In 1975, Hathaway was appointed Secretary of the Interior by President Gerald Ford. He was Wyoming’s first cabinet officer. During his brief tenure he was responsible for moving the federal coal leasing program forward. More coal leases became available in Wyoming, and its coal industry became the nation’s largest. Health issues resulted in his resignation from the Interior Department later in his appointment year, and he and Mrs. Hathaway returned to Wyoming where he established the law firm of Hathaway, Speight and Kunz in Cheyenne. Hathaway also served on the Board of Directors of PacifiCorp, Nerco, Inc., First Wyoming Bank, and Apache Corporation. He was an Emeritus Member of the Ruckelshaus Institute Board. At the time of his death in 2005 he was of counsel to the firm of Hathaway and Kunz, P.C.